United Religions Foundation

Pittsburgh, PA, known as a city of many bridges, will boast the addition of yet one more on June 26, 2000, as tens of thousands of religious leaders from around the world are expected to gather for a week long conference to sign the international United Religions Initiative (URI) Charter–bringing a single world religion one step closer to reality.

Previously based in San Francisco, the URI was encouraged to move its headquarters to Pittsburgh by request of a major foundation which supplied an enticing grant of $1.7 million. The symbolic significance of this new location is expressed by California Bishop William E. Swing, founder of URI: "We’re a bridge-building organization, and Pittsburgh is the place with the most bridges in North America." URI officials assert that it is the logical place to adopt a Charter which unites the world’s religions. Interestingly, prior to the compulsion to relocate, URI leadership considered it equally imperative that the Charter be signed in the San Francisco Fairmont Hotel, where the UN Charter was signed in 1945.

Bishop Swing, of Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco, was first approached by the United Nations (UN) in 1993 to lead an interfaith worship service commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the UN Charter in that city. This sparked his determination to "commit the rest of my life to an initiative that would create a United Religions which would, in appropriately spiritual ways, parallel the United Nations." The celebration took place on June 25, 1995, where Swing formally introduced his plan for a United Religions Initiative to the public. Since that time, URI has sponsored a number of elaborate, apparently well-funded worldwide events, regional conferences, and global summits.

The bridge to a one-world religion, however, began over 100 years ago with a meeting of The World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Since the creation of the UN in the 1940s, every decade has pursued proposals for a United Religions on a global scale, including the World Council of Churches, formed in 1948; Vatican II in 1962; the World Conference on Religion and Peace in 1970; and the 1993 Parliament of the World’s Religions. None has gained momentum and support as quickly as the current URI.

Swing fine-tuned his sales pitch and traveled around the world for three months in 1996, while promoting his vision by holding discussions with people from many varied beliefs. He seeks to bring together representatives from all 258 religions in the world, as well as "spiritual traditions" and "indigenous peoples," into a United Religions which functions similarly to the United Nations. Their broad, open-arms policy welcomes faiths such as Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Muslim, Wiccan, atheist, Druid, Baha’i, Goddess worship, and Taoist, while Christianity and Judaism are only included with great reservation. It’s a "one faith fits all" mentality–almost.

Fundamentalists, such as Christians and Jews who believe in the Ten Commandments or worship a single God, are considered threats to global peace and are frequently warned against "proselytizing" (i.e. evangelizing), as specified in principle #21 of the Charter: "Members of the URI shall not be coerced to participate in any ritual or be proselytized." In his 1998 book, The Coming United Religions, Bishop Swing groups those who proselytize with those who are "condemning, murdering and dominating." Not surprisingly, the Prince of Peace is soundly eliminated from the global peace process.

Christians’ monotheistic view of God and their belief in salvation through Jesus Christ alone makes them diametrically opposed to URI principles, whose pluralistic outlook regards all spiritual paths as means to a common end. It seems that even the United Religions has a limit to their tolerance policy. Principle #2 in their Charter states "We respect the sacred wisdom of each religion, spiritual expression and indigenous tradition" and #3 continues, "We respect the differences among religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions," yet Christians are forbidden from fulfilling the Great Commission to "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

The ever-growing ecumenical movement has been a major springboard for URI’s plunge into the interfaith realm. While ecumenism is defined as a uniting of Christian churches, interfaithism is a broader attempt to unify all of the world’s religions onto some sort of common ground, namely peace. The URI’s charter declares in paragraph one of its preamble, purpose and principles "we, people of diverse religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions throughout the world, hereby establish the united religions initiative to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the earth and all living things." A very noble undertaking, indeed. But at what cost? If Christians think they must sacrifice Biblical truths in order to preserve unity, then it’s time to drop the olive branch and obey the first two Commandments: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me...for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God." (Exodus 20:3, 5) V bm

Next month: a broader look at the URI and its true agenda.